cho is me.....

I am sure that as like most American women (according to the media and some recent studies), I am somewhat weight-obsessed. As an obese person who has struggled with her weight for almost 25 years (yes, it began at age 6), I will say this: food is life. My body requires me to eat a certain number of calories per day to survive. How I choose to eat those calories is the stuff that fad diets are made of.

I have been a Weight-Watcher for 8 years now. I have gained, lost, committed, recommitted and it’s been a real roller coaster. Living your life while constantly analyzing the minutia of what you are eating is taxing, degrading and fuel for a psychotic breakdown. So, I don’t. I do WW. Of course, right now, I am doing WW “offline” as I have given enough money to the company at this point…. And I really need to work some stuff out, like my carb to protein ratio. And that will involve some scale “wiggle” (+/- depending on the ratio) for a few weeks.

PC is right behind me, fully supporting my goals and gently (okay, sometimes NOT SO GENTLY) pushing me to exercise more. He’s really into adding fitness to the weight loss equation. He doesn’t care what size I am as long as I am fit. By the by, PC lost almost 75-80lbs last year doing WW. He looks and feels (to both of us!) great!

An effort to make this WW thing a “full time” adventure and not something I do occasionally--- I am tracking using an Excel sheet someone gave me awhile back. I can track my points at all times. I am considering switching from my Blackberry to a Palm Treo (or iPhone) so that I can keep my points with me and have a point calculator at all times. Our house is currently filled with healthy foods that consist of very few snacks and very few “trigger” foods. (trigger food: ice pops. Diet soda. Chips.)

The food thing has always boggled me b/c I LOVE food. I truly do. I like cooking, I like spices, I like to savor my food. So, from now until whenever- PC, we are back to eating at the dining room table (we eat in the living room in the summer- it has AC). The Weight Watcher recipes will be back in the oven, on the stove and in the crockpot. I have never really liked microwave meals or super greasy dinners.

In an effort to make sure that what I am eating is GOOD to me (good in the sense that I WANT to eat it), I have been test-driving yogurts. Yogurt is a good food for weight maintenance. It has a good combination of calcium and protein and fat (you need a little fat) and the right kind can be low in sugar. I am not loving WW 1pt yogurt—too sweet, too splenda-y and the texture is off. I love greek yogurt. I found Chobani 0% and am in love. 140 calories of oh-my-god-this-could-be-ice-cream deliciousness. Their website… go ahead, click. I’ll wait.

*Muzak*

Are you back? Good. Did you see the recipes section? HOW COOL IS THAT? Over the next week, look here for recipes, my favorite foods list (trader joes--- oh, how I love thee!) and of course, knitting.

PC was looking through an LL Bean catalog for a sweater on Friday. LL Bean! What kind of knitter am I? I picked a nice sweater pattern, went to Black Sheep for yarn and two separate cast ons later (I cast on for a 44 inch and got 38 inch. So, I cast on for the 52 inch and hopefully I’ll have a 44-46 inch.)

Wish me luck.